God does everything by Grace, only our faith can receive Grace (PART 2)

by David Leach
(Temecula, Ca)

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance (the certainty) of things hoped for (bringing the future into the present), the evidence (the proof) of things not seen.

Rom 10:17 Faith comes by hearing and hearing of the word of God (that He speaks).

Num 23:19 God is not like man that He should lie, has He said it and will He not do it? Or has He spoken it (and you heard Him), and will He not make it good?

3. Faith is not presumption Just because I may have believed with genuine faith one promise from God, such as the initial forgiveness of my sins, this does not somehow earn me the blessing of an unrelated promise, such as physical healing, when I have not yet genuinely heard and believed that other promise. For any one of God’s promises to be true in my life there must be genuine faith in that particular promise.

Otherwise I will start to make false assumptions that can lead to great disappointment. Often we Christians wrongly presume that if we faithfully serve God in some way, this entitles us to have God fulfill certain promises for us, such as meeting our financial needs. No, grace must have faith to receive it, we must hear with out hearts His word of grace and then believe it, for it to come to pass.

Psa 19:13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then...I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

Matt 8:13 (Jesus) ...As you have believed (not presumed), so let it be done for you.

4. Faith is not fatalism Many Christians think that by waiting to see how events play out they are sort of trusting God, even though there is no knowledge of God’s will, or active belief in it, or obedience to His Spirit. No, that isn’t faith its passive resignation or fatalism. Fatalism appeals because it excuses us of any responsibility for what happens. It’s based on the false Calvinism teaching that in any situation God’s will is going to be done anyway. All of the Bible contradicts this: God’s will was not done by: Adam and Eve, by Cain, by the entire generation of Noah, by all Israel in the wilderness except Joshua and Caleb, by Saul and most of Israel’s other kings, by almost all of Israel at the time of Christ, by 5 out of 7 of the Churches in book of Revelation, and by the rest of the world according to 1 John 5:19:

1 Jo 5:19 ...The whole world (most Christians) lies under the influence of the wicked one.

2 Cor 4:4 Whose minds the god of this world has blinded, who do not (actively) believe...

True faith makes us responsible to believe the will and word of God that He reveals to us, and to see that our words and actions are consistent with believing Him and obeying Him.

James 2:26 ...Faith without actions (which prove that faith) is dead (just like fatalism is).

God’s will is that none perish but that all come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9). But if we buy in to the false doctrine of fatalism, God is control, if it’s meant to be it will be, none of us could be saved. Salvation requires that we repent, change our minds about sin and God, and then, with our hearts, believe the first words of the gospel. If God’s number one priority, salvation, requires our heart faith, do you think any of His other promises won’t also require heart faith?

Jam 2:18-24 ...I will show you my faith by my actions...So you see, we are made right with God by what we do (that proves we believe), not by faith alone. TEV/NLT Our lack of knowledge about what faith is causes us to fail and have resentment against God

If I have been deceived by one of faiths’ counterfeits, mental assent, hope, presumption or fatalism, treating it as faith, then it’s very likely that some disaster has occurred, over which I thought I had faith. But relief from God never came nor could cone since it wasn’t true faith.

Rom 14:23 For whatever is not of faith is sin, whatever is done without a heart conviction of its approval by God is sinful. NKJV/AMP

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge…(especially about faith)

Inevitably and sadly when Christians through a lack of knowledge have latched on to a counterfeit of faith and God couldn’t, not wouldn’t, help them, they will often judge God falsely and harden their hearts toward Him. With the exception of abandoning their faith in Christ altogether this is the very worst thing a Christian could ever do. It will now be almost impossible for them to receive any of God’s blessings until they forsake their thoughts about God and are established in the truth about faith, and, in God’s unchanging love for them.

Mark 6:5-6 And He (Jesus) could not do any mighty work there (in Nazareth)… And He marveled because of their unbelief...

Jer 31:3 …I have loved you with an everlasting love…

What then is genuine faith? How do I get it, what are the conditions, and what destroys it?

Faith is the ability to completely trust God, first for ourselves and then increasingly for others. This ability can only exist within our hearts, meaning in our spirits, never in our heads. For faith to exist and grow, our hearts must be tender toward and able to hear God’s voice. Sin, any sin, will harden our hearts making them unable to hear God, and destroy our faith.God’s word, as we hear it with our hearts, is the word of faith, imparting Christ’s faith to us.

God’s Spirit, as we submit to it with our will, is the Spirit of faith, imparting God’s faith to us. Faith, having heard words from God and being led by God’s Spirit, faith knows God’s will. Knowing God’s will in the heart, faith will think, act and speak always in line with God’s will. Faith fights, in the thought life, using God’s word and by God’ Spirit, every opposing thought. Faith is the life of Jesus Christ, imparted by His word and Spirit, trusting God the Father, in us.

Heb 3:15 ...Today, if you will hear His (God’s) voice, Do not harden your hearts...

Heb 3:13 ...Lest any of you be hardened (in heart) through the deceitfulness of sin.

Rom 10:8 The word is near you...that is, the word of faith which we preach:

2 Cor 4:13 ...We have the same Spirit of faith...we also believe and therefore speak.

Col 1:9 ...That you may be filled with the knowledge of His (God’s) will....

1 Tim 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith (how?) lay hold on eternal life (on God’s words)John 6:68 ...Lord...You have the words of eternal life.

Col 1:26-27 The mystery of the gospel...now has been revealed to His saints...(what is it) Christ (living) in you (His faith working in you), the hope of (eternal) glory.

Gal 2:20 ...The life which I now live...I live by the faith of the Son of God... KJV